A riveting book about Peter Faberge and his famous eggs. This was a very interesting book! I liked the characters and the story line.
Peter entrusts his greatest secret to Alma- an egg that honored his divided allegiance to the people of Russia and the Czar family.
Three generations later, Nick is looking for the egg feverishly to the point of alienating his family. He sends a note to his estranged daughter asking for help because his health is failing. Ava, decides to help her father find his last treasure. What ensues is a treasure hunt fraught with danger and mystery. Much more happens in the book. Read it, you won't be disappointed! ( )

Kelli Stuart is one of my favorite authors. The Russian and Ukrainian connections found in her books give an added dimension to her excellent writing. The Master Craftsman is a dual timeline novel with lots of elements of suspense and has both historical and fictional characters. I found the historical story fascinating — the Fabrege workshop that created the famous Easter eggs against the backdrop of a failing Imperial system and revolution showed the peril of those even peripherally tied to Tsar Alexander. The modern-day treasure hunt was suspense-filled and action-packed with lots of shady characters. Who can you really trust!? All the priceless treasures the characters created and pursued served as reminders of just Who gives us personal value. I loved the adventure, the historical elements, and the subtle, yet important, spiritual themes. This novel is a recommended read.

Recommended.

Audience: Adults.

(Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.) ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I love a dual-time/historical fiction story and one of my favorite eras to read about is the Russian Revolution. I enjoyed Ms Stuart's writing, she made me want to learn more about the time, about Faberge, and about art. I look forward to reading more of her work. ( )

A novel set in both modern and historic time, treasure-hunting and iconic Russian Imperial and Revolution history tangled in a family history spanning countries and centuries. A good read, a bit of a page-turner. I received this book for a promise of a review through LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

The Master Craftsman's premise intrigued me when I first came upon it, with its promise of an adventure in 20th century Russia involving the Romanovs and a modern storyline to complement it and uncover some of the mysteries surrounding the family. The cover, also, is beautiful, with the different shades of the sky, the layout of the buildings, and the lady at the center running toward those structures.

Sadly, however, the book didn't live up to expectations. It opens, for instance, with a scene that has a character speak a line and scare the viewpoint character, but doesn't give the reader any idea of who spoke the dialogue, except that she's referred to only as "she," up until the story shifts to her POV. There are POV inconsistencies there too, but those are more easily overlooked. The writing style was sparse and focused more on what the characters were doing with their hands, expressions, etc., while neglecting their deeper feelings and motivations.

The characters themselves also didn't seem very multi-dimensional, making decisions that were out of character but convenient for where the story was headed. It would have helped a lot if readers were given information more organically, instead of getting it from a character taking several paragraphs to stop and think back over a particular time or aspect of their life. Meaning has to be established first, before the reader will care. Otherwise, the information is little more than an info dump.

Another thing that didn't work well for me was that from the first, Ava came off as an immature, whiny, irresponsible character. Every "Whatever," "Fine," and "She was weird, Mom" reinforced that impression. Both her parents caved to her wishes even when she acted half her 26 years, which was much of the time, taking into account her "rebellious bent," as her parents put it.
And the gestures were used excessively to the point where the characters seemed like puppets. Because of that overuse, they became cues for the characters to move around on stage, and it didn't feel authentic or natural.

One of the most jarring things, though, was the cursing mentioned in this book, and how it's portrayed as harmless. The modern protagonist's mother sugar-coats it as "unnecessary language," but by saying that, she puts it in the same category as filler words and stutters. I find this unacceptable. Taking into account other things, this could have been written with the intent of catering to the secular market to expand readership, which would to an extent explain the content. It might also explain the part on page 80 where Ava reads about a craftsman who made elaborately simple, breathtaking works of art, and says to herself, "Well, obviously that was because she was a woman." I had to do a double take when I hit that one.

I did appreciate that the love interest wasn't introduced until over a hundred pages into the story. The parts about how hot he looked with his blue jeans clinging to "his thick thighs" and in the tight T-shirt, not at all. But I do appreciate that the author took the time to set up the story and the other characters before the love interest came on the scene.

The above concerns considered, this book appears to be geared towards a secular audience even though it's printed in the name of a well-known publisher of Christian Fiction. Those who prefer such books might enjoy this one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. A positive review was not required. ( )